WWE News: Ric Flair's Super Bowl commecial banned
What’s the story?
According to a report from nodq.com, Ric Flair’s Super Bowl commercial will not air, as it has been banned. Here’s the commercial:
In case you didn’t know...
Flair has kept his name in the news throughout the past few Super Bowls, as he was an advocate for the Carolina Panthers last year during their run-up to the big game.
The heart of the matter
Anyone that was anxious to see Flair’s commercial during the big game this year may be sorely disappointed. According to the Nature Boy, the commercial was banned due to, “performance-enhancing” deals.
The commercial is an advertisement for US Auto Sales. The following is from the, “About US Auto Sales” section of their web page.
“These are the principles on which US Auto Sales was founded back in 1992. The vision was to provide quality automobiles to those who could not purchase a vehicle through traditional means. Back then we had ten cars on one lot and worked out of a trailer with three employees. Today we have 18 locations throughout Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. Over 1,000 cars in inventory and 400 employees.”
“While we have grown over time, our founding principles still ring true to this day. We believe everyone deserves reliable transportation regardless of their credit story, and it is our mission to help make successful car ownership a reality for you.”
The ad sees Flair acting as a successful car salesman, who has held the “dealership championship belt, for several years running. A competing salesman wants to rub the belt for good luck and the Nature Boy comes into the shot and shoves the man down before exclaiming, “Hey, to be the man, you gotta beat the man, brother. You should know that by now.”
Information about the dealership itself is then broadcast before Flair assaults another car salesman on the lot.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Generally speaking, commercials during the Big Game are actually funny. We didn’t feel that the Papa Flair’s commercial in question was particularly entertaining. After all, if we want to see Flair like a silly old man, we could just watch episodes of Raw from before WrestleMania 32.
Also, and this is purely speculation, but it may have actually been pulled from broadcast due to Papa Flair’s (the name of the mock dealership in the commercial) may be too close to Papa John’s, which is a well-known pizza chain that usually broadcasts a commercial during the big game.